MotoGP misses the point (by a mile)
Response to Spanish extreme weather turns blind eye to championship's role in climate change
I was on MotoGP correspondent duty for Autosport when the latest of many European flooding catastrophes hit Valencia just ahead of last month’s Malaysian Grand Prix.
That being so, I was watching closely when riders spoke of the moral problem with racing as planned in that very city two weeks later. And when they spoke of the need for proceeds for any replacement race to go towards helping the victims. It was an emotional time given the strongly Spanish flavour to the MotoGP world.
I was still in freelance reporter mode when, following the initial and inevitable early press release stressing solidarity and not much else, the decision was taken to move the Valencia race to Barcelona. So I was there to raise an eyebrow when the flooding then shifted to the Catalan capital, as if our ill climate had decided MotoGP hadn’t yet got the message.
Photo source: HRC Images
Yet that seemed to be exactly the long and short of it. A large number of people in the MotoGP paddock were personally affected by the tragedy in Valencia. Affected in dramatic, Biblical, end-of-days fashion. And yet still MotoGP – or at least its decision-makers – did not appear to get the message that was slapping us all in the face.
As a smart reader, you’ll have felt that sting right away. But let me spell out that message for housekeeping and MotoGP’s bosses: climate change will follow us wherever we choose to take our circus. We cannot continue to dismiss extreme weather events as ‘hundred-year anomalies’ and hope to dodge them by re-routing flights.
MotoGP’s response presented as perfect an example of humanity’s ongoing climate change denial as you could hope for.
Yes, fine and no doubt heartfelt words were spoken about helping the Valencia victims.
Yes, donations were made all the way down the pitlane.
Yes, proceeds from the Barcelona race went towards Valencia reconstruction. Platforms were used to good effect.
And yes, all this probably helped many feel they were doing some good despite the hulking great elephant in the room.
But of course that gargantuan pachyderm was ignored. Nobody dared address the glaring fact that everybody in the MotoGP paddock – including those who lost their homes – plays a wilful and deliberate part in generating extreme weather events.
Like many in motorsport, MotoGP people fly thousands of miles around the world for the pleasure of burning more carbon for three days at some racetrack. While obviously nobody deserves to have their home wrecked or their family disappear, MotoGP folk are not in a strong position to complain about (or be shocked by) things like flooding, high winds and high temperatures. They’re pretty near the back of the line, in fact.
Instead of acknowledging its role in climate change and, by extension, weather events like Valencia, Barcelona or [insert latest flood/storm disaster], MotoGP’s attitude seemed to be that money and another round of clean-ups can make all this go away. This mirrored the attitude of the human/global economy rather well. So much for us being the smartest species.
Yes, I make money from motorsport as a reporter and thus, by extension, I am also guilty and part of the problem. But at least I’m aware of the contradictions and willing to write about what we can do. I may even get on an accreditation blacklist for penning these words. The decision-makers who might stand to lose money from confronting the matter? Not a word. Even when the consequences of climate change literally hit their backyards, heads remain buried in the sand.
The ostrich has a very small brain as an excuse for such behaviour. What’s ours?
To the constructive criticism, then. What would I like to have seen from MotoGP apart from words of solidarity and generating relief funds?
First, a simple acknowledgement that flying around the world and racetracks is a contributor to people’s children disappearing in floods.
Second, with this acknowledgement now public, I’d like to see the majority of those funds redirected to projects that tackle the root problem of carbon in the atmosphere. Helping Valencia in the here and now is better short-term PR. But if you are serious about the climate change problem, you know it’s not a short-term fix. If you’re asking people to donate a dollar, the utilitarian thing to do is ask them to donate it towards preventing the next hundred Valencias. And not towards one clean-up that will make us feel better for a few days and provide some good social media.
Thirdly and lastly, I would like MotoGP to do something about its calendar. Motorsport in general is hard enough to justify in the climate crisis. You don’t need to make it worse by constantly growing the number of races as though racking up frequent flyer points is the priority. The schedule is exhausting for teams, fans and media alike, to the point where many end the season ill and few can even remember what happened in the blur of 40 races. Cut a few weekends and keep those outside Europe to an absolute minimum.
But that won’t happen, will it? Because it’s always about going to ‘important markets’. It’s always about a global economy. It’s always about volume. It’s always about money. Make enough money, after all, and you can always buy a new car to replace the one that got washed away.
I realise that this is a worldwide systemic problem and it might be unfair to single out motorsport, much less a particular series within it. It’s just that MotoGP truly jumped on the chance to become a poster child for the issue.
The cards fell particularly close to home for its teams, riders and organisers when Valencia happened. The irony of the circus being in Asia and the extreme weather following its rejigged calendar to Barcelona could not have escaped anybody with their eyes open. The situation cried out for an honest appraisal.
MotoGP’s response was to put on a model display of climate action denial. One that may have fooled a few blinded by funding campaigns, #SolidarityGP and switching its carbon-belching activities to a ‘morally acceptable’ venue a few hours up the road. Sigh.
Richard Asher’s freelance activities include motorsport journalism, leading nature tours and teaching Austrian school kids about climate change. It is a world of contradiction – but he does think about solutions more than most. This book reveals some of those thoughts in greater depth.
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